The US should work with its partners to help Taiwan defend its freedom, US Senator Rick Scott told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at a meeting yesterday.
The US and all other freedom-loving countries should work together to “make sure that Taiwan has the opportunity to decide their future, not have it decided by some foreigner,” said Scott, who is on a three-day visit to Taipei.
Scott, who took office as senator after his two terms as Florida governor ended in 2019, said the international community should continue working together to make sure Taiwan is well-positioned to defend its freedoms, referring to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Photo: CNA
He said that as a member of the US Senate committees on armed services and commerce, he remains committed to the freedoms and security of Taiwan.
He said that he also looked forward to meeting with Taiwanese officials and business leaders to discuss ways to increase bilateral trade.
Tsai said there is a need for “democratic partners to deepen cooperation” in light of several challenges facing the world in the past few years, including, the expansion of authoritarianism, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Taiwan will continue to work closely with the US to jointly safeguard the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region,” she said.
Taipei has policies to grow bilateral trade, she said, citing ongoing talks with Washington about the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade and a Taiwanese trade delegation that visited the US last month.
PRO-TAIWAN BILLS
She thanked the Republican senator for twice in the past two years introducing a bill that would be crucial for the security of Taiwan, referring to the proposed Taiwan invasion prevention act.
Scott was the first US visitor to the Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania and he exemplifies the partnership between the democracies, she added.
She hopes that Taiwan’s partnership with the US will become stronger and closer with Scott’s continued support, she said.
After the meeting, Scott told reporters he believes that “the world has changed” following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
“We all have to put ourselves in a position that we can make sure we defend the freedom we all believe in,” he said.
“I do think it would be helpful if Taiwan participated in RIMPAC and I hope that’s what happens in the future,” he said, referring to the Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world’s largest international maritime drills.
In the US-led format’s ongoing edition, 26 nations have since last month been participating in drills around Hawaii and southern California.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and Reuters
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS